对于初创企业而言，融资十分重要。如果能够获得融资，企业或许起死回生，或许发展壮大。因此，有必要了解一下融资的各个阶段。

种子轮融资（Seed Funding）

Seed funding is the first official equity funding stage. It typically represents the first official money that a business venture or enterprise raises.

种子轮融资是指企业首次正式融资的阶段。

You can think of the "seed" funding as part of an analogy for planting a tree. This early financial support is ideally the "seed" which will help to grow the business. Given enough revenue and a successful business strategy, as well as the perseverance and dedication of investors, the company will hopefully eventually grow into a "tree". Seed funding helps a company to finance its first steps, including things like market research and product development. With seed funding, a company has assistance in determining what its final products will be and who its target demographic is.

“种子”轮融资好比种树。在理想情况下，这种早期资金支持如同一粒“种子”，能够帮助企业发展。如果一家企业收入充足，经营策略成功，加上投资人不断的投资，最终有望长成一棵“大树”。种子轮融资能够在早期的市场调研和产品开发等方面提供资金支持，帮助企业确定最终产品以及目标人群。

There are many potential investors in a seed funding situation: founders, friends, family, incubators, venture capital companies and more. One of the most common types of investors participating in seed funding is a so-called "angel investor." Angel investors tend to appreciate riskier ventures (such as startups with little by way of a proven track record so far) and expect an equity stake in the company in exchange for their investment.

种子轮融资的潜在投资人可以是创始人、朋友、家人、孵化器、风险投资公司等。其中最常见的要数“天使投资人”。天使投资人倾向于风险较高的投资（比如，业绩不明显的初创企业），以期利用投资换取股权。

For some startups, a seed funding round is all that the founders feel is necessary in order to successfully get their company off the ground; these companies may never engage in a Series A round of funding. Most companies raising seed funding are valued at somewhere between $3 million and $6 million.

一些初创企业的创始人如果认为种子轮融资足以帮助企业发展，这类公司可能不会参与A轮融资或后续融资。大多数企业在这一阶段的融资额大致为300万美元到600万美元之间。

A轮融资（Series A Funding）

In Series A funding, investors are not just looking for great ideas. Rather, they are looking for companies with great ideas as well as a strong strategy for turning that idea into a successful, money-making business. For this reason, it's common for firms going through Series A funding rounds to be valued at up to $23 million. Typically, Series A rounds raise approximately $2 million to $15 million, but this number has increased on average due to high tech industry valuations, or unicorns. The average Series A funding as of 2020 is $15.6 million.

对于A轮融资，投资人寻找的不仅是好的想法，更看重的是，是否能够将这些想法变为现实，从而产生盈利。因此，一般进入A轮融资的企业估值多达2300万美元。通常来讲，这一阶段的融资额大约在200万美元到1500万美元之间，但是由于高科技企业或独角兽企业估值较高，截至2020年，融资额平均达到1560万美元。

The investors involved in the Series A round come from more traditional venture capital firms. Well-known venture capital firms that participate in Series A funding include Sequoia Capital, Benchmark Capital, Greylock and Accel Partners. Angel investors also invest at this stage, but they tend to have much less influence in this funding round than they did in the seed funding stage.

A轮融资的投资人一般是传统的风险投资公司，比如红杉资本、标杆资本、格雷洛克和Accel合伙公司。天使投资人也会参与投资，但是相较于种子轮融资，他们在此阶段产生的影响力比较小。

It is increasingly common for companies to use equity crowdfunding in order to generate capital as part of a Series A funding round. Part of the reason for this is the reality that many companies, even those which have successfully generated seed funding, tend to fail to develop interest among investors as part of a Series A funding effort. Indeed, fewer than half of seed-funded companies will go on to raise Series A funds as well.

在A轮融资阶段，股权众筹是企业为产生资本而采取的一种越来越普遍的做法。部分原因在于，即使是那些成功获得种子轮融资的企业，也难以吸引投资人在A轮融资阶段投资。

B轮融资（Series B Funding）

Companies that have gone through seed and Series A funding rounds have already developed substantial user bases and have proven to investors that they are prepared for success on a larger scale. Series B funding is used to grow the company so that it can meet these levels of demand.

企业历经种子轮融资和A轮融资后，已经拥有牢固的用户基础，也向投资人证明其有意发展壮大，因此继续进行B轮融资。

The average estimated capital raised in a Series B round is $33 million. Companies undergoing a Series B funding round are well-established, and their valuations tend to reflect that; most Series B companies have valuations between around $30 million and $60 million, with an average of $58 million.

B轮融资的平均融资额为3300万美元。进入这一阶段融资的公司都是发展完善的公司，估值大约在3000万美元到6000万美元之间，平均估值为5800万美元。

Series B appears similar to Series A in terms of the processes and key players. The difference with Series B is the addition of a new wave of other venture capital firms that specialize in later-stage investing.

B轮融资与A轮融资在程序及主要投资人方面比较相似，但区别在于前者新增了其他风险投资公司进行投资，他们擅长后期投资。

C轮融资（Series C Funding）

Businesses that make it to Series C funding sessions are already quite successful, which have established, strong customer bases, revenue streams, and proven histories of growth. These companies look for additional funding in order to help them develop new products, expand into new markets, or even to acquire other companies. In Series C rounds, investors inject capital into the meat of successful businesses, in an effort to receive more than double that amount back.

进入C轮融资的公司都是相当成功的公司，客户基础强大、收入来源稳定、业绩可靠，进一步融资是为了开发新产品、开拓新市场或收购其他公司；而投资人在这一阶段投资当然是希望获得一倍以上的利润。

As the operation gets less risky, more investors come to play. In Series C, groups such as hedge funds, investment banks, private equity firms, and large secondary market groups accompany the type of investors mentioned above. The reason for this is that the company has already proven itself to have a successful business model; these new investors come to the table expecting to invest significant sums of money into companies that are already thriving as a means of helping to secure their own position as business leaders.

在C轮融资阶段，除了上述各类投资人，投资人还包括对冲基金、投资银行、私募股权公司和二级市场等。原因在于，进入C轮融资的公司形成了成功的商业模式，投资风险小，对投资人的吸引力大，并且投资人在这个时候投入大量资金以期巩固他们在商业领域的领导地位。

Most commonly, a company will end its external equity funding with Series C. However, some companies can go on to Series D and even Series E rounds of funding as well. For the most part, though, companies gaining up to hundreds of millions of dollars in funding through Series C rounds are prepared to continue to develop on a global scale. Many of these companies utilize Series C funding to help boost their valuation in anticipation of an IPO.

最常见的是，企业就此止步于C轮融资。但是，也有一些企业选择继续进行D轮融资甚至E轮融资。不过，在大多数情况下，企业在C轮融资获得数亿美元的投资后，把目标瞄向了全球市场。这些企业利用融资提高自身的估值，从而达到首次公开发行股票的目的。

参考：

Investopedia